CHART OF THE DAY: The Death Of IMing At Work

Microsoft hired MarketTools to ask 1,268 people about how often they use particular forms of communication at work.

They found that every single form of communication is growing except for one: instant messaging.

Only 14% of IM users say they're using it more than last year. 15% say they're using it less. The rest say it's stayed the same.

A lot of IM use is probably being replaced by instant communication on social networks -- Facebook and Twitter -- and SMS text messaging as people spend more time on their phones and less on their computer.

Microsoft downplayed this part of the survey -- the company has big investments in IM for consumers (Windows Live Messenger) and corporations (Lync). Instead, Microsoft pointed out that email usage is growing, which shouldn't surprise anybody who's checked their inbox recently.